He was also available for his readers. Once, in East Hampton, where he had a vacation house with a listed phone number, a desperate cook, attempting one of Claiborne's recipes for his guests, called him because the sauce did not seem to be doing what it should. "What kind of heat do you have it on?" Claiborne asked. "Kind of a simmer," replied the cook. "Well, boil the bejesus out of it!" came roaring through the phone. Claiborne did not mince words.

From 101 Classic Cookbooks - 501 Classic Recipes, Marvin J. Taylor and Clark Wolf, editors, drawing on the resources of the Fales Library, New York University.